Glossary
Lawyer Terms & Vocabulary
15 essential lawyer terms with plain-English definitions: the vocabulary you’ll hear in training and on day one.
Key lawyer vocabulary
These 15 terms come up constantly in lawyer training, on the job and in interviews. Knowing them helps you follow instructions, document accurately and sound prepared.
- Attorney-client privilege
- Confidential communications.
- Bar exam
- Licensing exam.
- Billable hour
- Time charged to clients.
- Brief
- Written argument.
- Defendant
- Person being sued or charged.
- Deposition
- Sworn testimony out of court.
- Discovery
- Exchange of evidence.
- In-house counsel
- Lawyer employed by a company.
- J.D.
- Juris Doctor.
- Litigation
- Lawsuits.
- Motion
- Request to the court.
- Plaintiff
- Person suing.
- Precedent
- Earlier decisions guiding later ones.
- Settlement
- Agreement ending a dispute.
- Statute of limitations
- Deadline to sue.
Practice these terms
Test yourself with the free Lawyer practice test: it includes vocabulary questions built from this list. For a complete course, see Lawyer training.
Browse terms from every career in our career glossary.